


A Little Less Conversation

by warqueenfuriosa (orphan_account)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Age Difference, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Gentle Sex, Romance, Vaginal Sex, Virginity, jess is just here to drag poe mercilessly, keep him humble, set at the end of The Force Awakens and goes AU from there, virgin!rey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:13:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25797976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/warqueenfuriosa
Summary: While Rey adjusts to life on the Resistance base, Poe attempts to put her at ease. But rather than make her feel welcome, he unintentionally pushes her into a race to prove her worth as a pilot.When Poe and Rey go head to head, the rush of adrenaline forges an unlikely romance between the best pilot in the Resistance and a sun-kissed girl from the backwaters of Jakku.**set at the end of The Force Awakens and goes AU**
Relationships: Finn & Rey, Jessika Pava & Rey, Poe Dameron & Finn, Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been in my WIP folder for about three years (!!!!) and it FINALLY decided to cooperate! Hope you like it, lovelies! As always, feel free to drop by tumblr and say hello @warqueenfuriosa-ao3!

“Can you really fly that hunk of junk?”

Sometimes, Poe could just kick himself for opening his mouth. Too late. The words were out there. Couldn’t take them back now.

Rey, seated two tables away, flicked her gaze up, a wad of food stuffed in her cheek.

She ate like an animal.

Arms braced on either side of her plate. Shoulders curled forward in a full-body shield. Shoveling food into her mouth as if someone was about to snatch it away at any second and she had to pack in as many bites as she possibly could before that happened.

Silence descended on the dining hall as every eye turned on Rey, awaiting her answer.

Poe stifled a wince. This was hurtling south in the worst way.

Jess kicked him under the table, mercilessly voicing his regrets out loud as if she could read his mind.

“Idiot,” she hissed. “I thought you were trying to be _nice_ , not interrogate the poor girl.”

He hadn’t meant to pin Rey in the spotlight of scrutiny. All he’d intended to do was strike up a conversation, put her at ease.

He’d failed. Miserably.

Rey’s gaze shifted warily around the room, taking in the faces staring at her. She gulped.

“Yeah,” she said.

A pause. Then the murmur of conversation resumed in the dining hall. But Rey wasn’t done.

“I could outrun you any day of the week.”

Snap choked, his face red with amusement. Jess coughed and turned away, though it sounded suspiciously like a cackle of delight. Stunned silence filled the room. A fork clattered to the floor, echoing.

Rey swiped the back of her hand across her mouth, never breaking eye contact with Poe. _What do you have to say to that?_

“Only one way to find out,” he replied.

Rey picked at a chunk of bread in her fist, considering her response. Then she set it on her tray, a little too forcefully, causing her silverware to rattle. She lifted her chin with determination.

“Name it.”

“Let’s settle it fair and square with a race.”

Jess poked him in the side, hard enough to make him flinch.

“Dameron, what the _hell_ are you doing?”

A buzz of surprise emanated through the dining hall. Poe steeled himself, jaw clenched. This was not how it was supposed to go. This was not the welcome he’d had in mind. How had it gone so wrong, so fast?

Rey didn’t falter, didn’t even blink.

“Tomorrow morning,” she said. “Sunrise. Two laps around the planet. No hyperspace jumps and no leaving atmo. Just pure speed.”

She certainly didn’t pull any punches. A hard hitter, through and through.

“Deal,” Poe said.

He returned his attention to his meal, despite Jess seated next to him, glaring holes in the side of his head. She would shred him for this later.

“What about the prize?”

Rey’s voice rang clear and resolute across the room.

Poe paused, fork halfway to his mouth.

_Prize._

He hadn’t thought about that.

If he was honest, he hadn’t really thought any of this through, since the moment he uttered the first word. What was _wrong_ with him?

Poe fumbled for an adequate response before his hesitation showed how unprepared he was. “Bragging rights” didn’t hold enough weight. He needed something with more incentive, especially after calling out Rey in front of the entire dining hall.

Before he could come up with a reply, Rey slapped a fistful of credits on the table.

“Twenty credits,” she declared.

A painfully meager sum that would have had her laughed out of any other race. But Poe didn’t scoff. Judging by the evident pride in Rey’s voice, that might be all she had. So, he pushed away from the table, fished out a handful of credits from his pocket, and tossed them on the table.

“Twenty credits,” he agreed. “BB-8 can keep an eye on the pot until the race.”

BB-8 zipped forward and popped open a container in its belly. Rey scooped the credits into it and BB-8 snapped it shut. She eyed Poe for a moment longer, as if she expected him to say something else.

Then she bent over her food again, shutting him out, effectively putting an end to the conversation. The noise of the dining hall resumed to its normal hum.

When Poe returned to his seat, Jess stared at him.

“What?” he demanded, facing her.

“You really took one look at a cute girl and your brain just went all kinds of stupid, didn’t it?”

Jess rose, grabbed her tray, and marched over to Rey’s table.

“Mind if I sit here?” she said.

Rey shrugged without looking up. She continued to eat, biting off an enormous chunk of bread.

Undaunted, Jess took a seat opposite Rey.

“I’m Jess, by the way. You’re…Rey, right?”

As they shook hands, a small smile curved Rey’s lips up.

A pang of regret hit Poe in the chest that he wasn’t the one to put that smile on her face, to say hello like a normal human being rather than the nonsense that spewed out of his mouth when he spoke to her.

“Now _that’s_ how you introduce yourself,” Snap said, carving into his protein ration. “No idea what you were trying to do, buddy, but I hate to say it: you missed the mark.”

Poe swore under his breath and shoved his plate away, appetite long gone. Snap pointed with his fork at Poe’s abandoned meal.

“You gonna eat that?”

Poe slid his tray over.

“It’s all yours.”

While Snap devoured the leftovers, Poe watched as Jess cracked a joke and Rey laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

Rey placed her palm flat to Finn’s healing pod. It was smooth and faintly warm to the touch, humming gently.

She wanted nothing more than to take his hand, run her thumb over his knuckles, trace the lines of his palm. But she couldn’t.

Instead, she pulled up a chair and sat beside him in the faint glow emanating from his pod. The med bay was dark, the rest of the Resistance base largely asleep now that dinner had passed. She leaned her staff against the wall behind her. General Organa – _Leia,_ she had insisted – reassured Rey that the base was safe. No one would harm her here. But Rey still carried her staff everywhere she went out of habit.

Now that was alone with Finn, darkness like a soft cloak surrounding the perimeter of the room, Rey felt more at ease. Allowing the staff to leave her grip was a relief she didn’t realize she’d been searching for ever since her arrival on D’Qar.

“I made a friend today,” Rey said, her voice barely above a whisper. It felt wrong to speak much louder than that, as if her voice might cause injury to Finn’s delicate state of recovery. “Jess is really nice. Friendly. You’d like her.”

She didn’t know if Finn could hear what she said or not but that never stopped her. Every night, she made her way to the med bay and spent an hour or two with Finn, telling him what he missed while he was asleep. He had been by her side through so much. It was only right that she remained with him now.

Luke Skywalker was out there somewhere. Rey had the map that would take her to him. But she refused to leave. Finn had to get better first. She wasn’t going anywhere without him.

Rey frowned.

“I met Poe Dameron, too. I could tell who he was from your stories. Can’t say I’m impressed. He’s…”

She floundered for the right word.

Rude. Selfish. Arrogant.

Handsome.

She grimaced and pulled her knees up to her chest. That word – _handsome_ – felt strange in her mind, as if it was too big and unwieldy with its unfamiliarity.

Few people had lived at the outpost on Jakku. Even few travelers had passed through. How could she tell who qualified as attractive and who didn’t when she’d seen and experienced so little of the galaxy?

To her, everyone outside of Jakku had something special about them, something that made her stop and stare a little too long.

The way Leia carried herself – straight-backed, proud, and strong.

The way Jess’s eyes sparkled with laughter.

Finn’s bravery, stalwart and unwavering against impossible odds.

But Poe was different in some way that she couldn’t put her finger on and it unsettled her.

“He challenged me to a race,” Rey went on, scrubbing at her palm with her thumb. “I don’t think he likes me very much. Or the Falcon.”

The pod whirred lightly, like a whisper. Rey studied Finn’s profile, the angle of his jawline, the curve of his lashes, willing him to open his eyes, _wake up so we can go and leave all of this behind._

Finn didn’t budge.

Rey sighed and rested her cheek atop her knees.

“I miss you.”

The med bay’s door swished open. Rey startled and sat up, preparing to apologize to the night shift medic for sneaking in. But when she saw Poe standing in the doorway, she snapped her mouth shut.

He rocked back on his heels.

“Sorry. Didn’t realize anyone was in here.”

Rey reached for her staff and started to stand but Poe held out a hand.

“No, no, you don’t have to go. I was just…” He gestured toward Finn. “Wanted to see how he was doing.”

Rey hesitated, suspended between staying and walking out. She had no desire to be in Poe’s presence. But it had been a long day and all she wanted to do was be with Finn a little while longer.

Carefully, Rey settled back, staff resting across her knees. She perched on the edge of her seat this time, ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Poe inched further into the room, eyeing her.

What had she done to make him so standoffish around her? As far as she could tell, he didn’t behave like this toward anyone else. In the cafeteria, he rarely ate alone. She regularly spotted him deep in conversation with Leia. He exchanged banter with countless people on base as he passed. 

Then why did it seem as if Poe couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her right now?

“Vitals are steady,” Poe said, nodding toward Finn's pod.

Whether it was directed at her or not, Rey couldn’t tell. So she said nothing.

He fidgeted, flexing his fingers, shifting from foot to foot. Then he turned to face her.

“Look, about the race. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want—"

“Are you quitting?” Rey replied.

“What? No. I didn’t say that. I meant…”

Poe trailed off. Rey raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. He made a strangled noise of frustration in the back of his throat and let his hands fall to his sides. Where was his pointed directness from before? He seemed so…uncertain now.

“I’m saying we could forget the whole thing.”

Rey narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

 _He’s the best pilot in the Resistance,_ Finn had said, gushing about Poe for the umpteenth time.

Did he feel threatened by her? Did he think she could out-fly him and ruin his reputation in front of everyone?

Poe scrubbed the back of his neck. “If you changed your mind and decided not to do it, I’d understand.”

“You want me to back out.”

He gave a small laugh and spread his hands.

“I’m trying to apologize here,” he said.

Rey blinked. _That’s_ what this was? An apology? At the rate he was going, _I’m sorry_ didn’t seem to be coming out of his mouth any time soon.

“You’re not doing a very good job of it,” she replied.

Poe blew out a breath as if she’d kicked him in the stomach. Before he could say anything more, Rey stood, tucking the staff under her arm.

“It’s late. I should go.” She sidled past him and headed for the door. “See you at sunrise,” she tossed over her shoulder.


End file.
